Supervisory board

J. Mark Treherne (1961) – Chairman

Dr. Treherne obtained his PhD in receptor neuropharmacology from Cambridge University (UK) with funding from Merck, before holding a faculty position at the Biozentrum in Basel (Switzerland). Mark now has over 20 years experience in the discovery of novel therapeutic treatments and was formerly at Pfizer in the UK, where he was responsible for research into neurodegenerative diseases. On leaving Pfizer in 1997, Dr. Treherne set up Cambridge Drug Discovery as Chief Executive, which was sold to BioFocus (now a part of Galapagos (Belgium)). Dr. Treherne is also Chairman of NeuroDiscovery Ltd (Australia) and Cyclofluidic Limited (UK) and a director of Senexis Limited (UK), Population Genetics Technologies Limited (UK) and Domain Therapeutics S.A. (France).

Mark de Boer (1960)

Dr. Mark de Boer worked for, managed and started, for the last fifteen years, early stage biopharmaceutical companies in the field of innovative novel biopharmaceuticals. He most recently served as CEO of 4AZA Bioscience, a small Belgium Biotech start-up company, before that, he was until 2003 CEO of MacroZyme B.V. and until 2001 Managing Director of Tanox Pharma B.V. Dr. de Boer serves as a member of the supervisory board of several Biotech companies, and is venture partner for Index ventures. He is also a professor on the faculty of pharmaceutical sciences of the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) in the field of entrepreneurship in life sciences.

Oscar Schoots (1966)

Dr. Oscar Schoots is director of “Universiteit Utrecht Holding BV” and “UMC Utrecht Holding BV” (generally referred to as Utrecht Holdings). These companies are responsible for the patent portfolio and for various technology transfer activities from Utrecht University (UU) and the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC). To date, Utrecht Holdings has started and invested in more then 30 spin out companies and currently hold equity in 20 companies (see www.utrechtholdings.nl).
From 1993 to 1996 Mr. Schoots conducted research at the University of Toronto (Canada) and he received a Ph.D. in medicine from UU. Following two years postdoctoral research at the Rudolf Magnus Institute in Utrecht (1997-1998), Dr. Schoots worked for a specialized independent technology transfer organization (1999-2001) and he obtained his MBA in 2002 (Bradford University/NIMBAS). As of 2002 he works for Utrecht Holdings. He authored 14 peer reviewed scientific publications and serves supervisory board positions in Bioceros BV, Enceladus Pharmaceuticals BV and Cavadis BV.

Christina Takke (1970)

Dr. Takke has been working as a Principle at Forbion Capital Partners since 2007. She holds degrees from University of Cologne (Germany) and "Technische Universität" Darmstadt (Germany). At Forbion Dr. Takke is responsible for scouting of new investment opportunities as well as for their scientific/ technical analysis and monitoring. In 2000 she joined ABN AMRO and was part of the Life Sciences group until 2006. Prior to ABN AMRO, Dr. Takke worked at Bio-Gen-Tec-NRW, a regional development organization for biotechnology based in Cologne, Germany. Here she evaluated business proposals and assisted companies in the fundraising process. Dr. Takke serves on the supervisory board of Pieris AG (Germany), and was an observer on the board of GlycArt (Switzerland) prior to its sale to Roche in 2005.

Michel Briejer (1965)

Dr. Briejer is an Investment Director at Thuja Capital (The Netherlands). Prior to joining Thuja Capital, Michel held senior R&D management positions at Janssen Pharmaceutica (Belgium), Yamanouchi Europe (currently Astellas Pharma) and Crucell (The Netherlands). Moreover, he worked as a consultant for a number of small pharmaceutical and biotech start-up companies in The Netherlands. As a former project leader in charge of various drug development programs, he understands the complexity of drug development and project management, irrespective of whether it concerns chemically synthesized compounds or biotechnology-derived drugs, bringing 17 years of strategic and operational drug development know-how. Dr. Briejer holds a Master of Science degree in Pharmacy (Utrecht University) and a PhD in Pharmacology (Wageningen University), as well as a post-doctoral degree in Pharmaceutical Medicine (European Center for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Basle). Dr. Briejer authored over 25 peer reviewed scientific papers and book chapters on pharmacology and drug development.

Edward van Wezel (1964)

Mr. van Wezel has been working as Managing Partner at BioGeneration Ventures (The Netherlands) since 2006. Edward holds a M.Sc in biochemistry from the University of Utrecht (The Netherlands) and a M.Sc in Biochemical Engineering from the University of Delft (The Netherlands). At BioGeneration Ventures Edward holds overall responsibility and is actively involved in evaluation of new business plans and assists portfolio companies in business development. Prior to BioGeneration Ventures Edward was director business development and managing director at several start-up and early stage life sciences companies in the Netherlands and gained industrial experience at Johnson & Johnson and Chiron. Mr. Van Wezel serves on the supervisory board of Progentix B.V. and NovioGendix B.V..